New & Recommended New & Recommended (February 02, 2005)

This month's picks by Frank Sanchez, head book buyer at Kepler's Books, include a book by two actors who rode motorcycles from London to New York, another from a park ranger on the American River in the Sierra foothills, and several other travel-oriented publications.

"Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World" by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman is the story, in the authors' words, of the two actors taking four months to ride motorcycles more than 20,000 miles from London to New York via Europe and Asia and North America.

"Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra" by Jordan Fisher Smith is an account of the park ranger's 14 years working in the canyons of the American River in the Sierra Nevada. A park ranger's job is not all serenity, as Smith writes about breaking up fights, dealing with suicides, and coming across the body of a woman who had been killed by a mountain lion, the first such recorded death in California in many years.

"Zara's Tales: Perilous Escapades in Equatorial Africa" by Peter Beard is a memoir from a writer/photographer who has lived in East Africa for four decades. The photographs are striking and the writing excels. Beard describes a lion that ran at his camp before turning away: an "unbelievable flow of silent SPEED."

"Trawler" by Redmond O'Hanlon is an account of the author's volunteering to work aboard a North Atlantic fishing boat in stormy seas. He had insisted on finding a dangerous voyage, and he did. "It occurs to me I might be going mad," he wrote at one point. O'Hanlon is an accomplished and entertaining travel writer.

"Wrong About Japan: A Father's Journey with his Son" by Peter Carey is a travel diary from the two-time Booker Prize-winning novelist which gives a portrait of a culture. The Australian-born writer traveled to Japan with his 12-year-old son.

"Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat and Camel" by Jeffrey Taylor is a close look at three African countries - Nigeria, Niger and Mali - by the Atlanta Monthly writer. A fluent Arabic and French speaker, he was able to talk with local people about politics and religion.

"Travels with My Donkey: One Man and His Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago" by Tim Moore is an account of the author's journey from France to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in Spain accompanied by a donkey. He astounded his family by taking the long walk because he had never known anything about donkeys before. His donkey, Shinto, was his "hairy-coated hair shirt."

"The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold" by Gretchen Ehrlich is a year's journey to some very cold places by the author and her dog. The journey includes Wyoming, Greenland, Chile and the Artic. Ehrlich is the author of "The Solace of Open Spaces" and previously wrote about Greenland in "This Cold Heaven."

-- Don Kazak

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